Lift for raise driving apparatus

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a lift assembly carrying a drift mining equipment for driving raises and the like in rock. The equipment comprises a fluid motor unit for moving said equipment along a guide track composed of a plurality of separate sections which are adapted to be spliced on successively as the raise driving work proceeds, and to be secured, each in its turn, to the wall of the raise from a platform or the like forming part of the drift mining equipment. A drive unit comprising an internal combustion engine assembly and fluid pumping means operated by said engine is suspended so as to be pivotable about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said track, and is associated with the drift mining equipment to be moved together with the latter along the track in a position such that the internal combustion engine assembly will function independently of the inclination of the raise relative to the horizontal plane, said fluid pumping means being interconnected with the fluid motor unit by flexible fluid conduits. The invention eliminates the need of power supply lines extending along the raise for propulsion of the drift mining equipment along the track.

United States Patent [191 Svensson [111 3,830,338 Aug. 20, 1974 LIFT FORRAISE DRIVING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Torbjorn Svensson, Skelleftea,

Sweden [73] Assignee: Linden-Alimak AB, Skelleftea,

Sweden [22] Filed: Aug. 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 282,812

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 7, 1971 Sweden 11343/71[52] US. Cl 182/82, 61/85, 104/2, 104/89, 105/30, 105/62 R, 105/96.2,105/148,105/161,182/141,187/19, 299/19 [51] Int. Cl E04q 3/16, E2ld3/00, E21f 13/04 [58] Field of Search 105/30, 62 R, 96.2, 148,105/161;182/20, 82, 141; 187/19; 61/84, 85;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,316,223 4/1943 Cheneau105/30 3,016,989 1/1962 Lindmark 187/19 3,085,794 4/1963 Johansson et al182/20 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King Assistant Examinerl-loward BeltranAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Fred C. Philpitt 5 7 ABSTRACT The inventionrelates to a lift assembly carrying a drift mining equipment for drivingraises and the like in rock. The equipment comprises a fluid motor unitfor moving said equipment along a guide track composed of a plurality ofseparate sections which are adapted to be spliced on successively as theraise driving work proceeds, and to be secured, each in its turn, to thewall of the raise from a platform or the like forming part of the driftmining equipment,

A drive unit comprising an internal combustion engine assembly and fluidpumping means operated by said engine is suspended so as to be pivotableabout a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely of saidtrack, and is associated with the drift mining equipment to be movedtogether with the latter along the track in a position such that theinternal combustion engine assembly will function independently of theinclination of the raise relative to the horizontal plane, said fluidpumping means being interconnected with the fluid motor unit by flexiblefluid conduits.

The invention eliminates the need of power supply lines extending alongthe raise for propulsion of the drift mining equipment along the track.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures LIFT FOR RAISE DRIVING APPARATUS The presentinvention relates to a lift assembly carrying a drift mining equipmentfor driving raises and the like in rock, said drift mining equipmentcomprising a fluid motor unit for moving said equipment along a guidetrack composed of a plurality of separate sections which are adapted tobe spliced on successively as the raise driving work proceeds, and to besecured, each in its turn, to the wall of the raise from a platform orthe like forming part of the drift mining equipment.

The use in drift mining work of so-called raise lifts of the kind heredisclosed is well-known to those skilled in the art and offers a numberof advantages over previous methods, first of all owing to the fact thatraise lifts enable a substantially faster driving rate. For drivingsmall raises, ofa length of 150 m, at most, lifts operated by pneumaticmotors are most commonly used, whereas for raises of greater lengthselectrically operated lifts are employed. The latter, however, arerestricted in use to raise lengths of about 600 m. At greater lengthsexcessive problems are encountered as regards the electric cablerequired for operating the motors. Primarily in the building ofhydro-electric power stations, but also in mining, raises or drifts upto 1000 m and more in length are becoming increasingly common.

The invention has for its object to provide an improved raise liftenabling driving raises of the greatest lengths encountered and withoutany problem as regards power supply.

For this object, the lift assembly according to the invention ischaracterized in that a drive unit comprising an internal combustionengine assembly and fluid pumping means operated by said engine issuspended so as to be pivotable about a substantially horizontal axisextending transversely of said track, and is associated with the driftmining equipment to be moved together with the latter along the track ina position such that the internal combustion engine assembly willfunction independently of the inclination of the raise relative to thehorizontal plane, said fluid pumping means being interconnected with thefluid motor unit by flexible fluid conduits.

Thus, the invention eliminates the need of power supply lines extendingalong the raise for propulsion of the drift mining equipment along thetrack. The raise in this case, can be driven in any inclination betweenhorizontal and vertical positions, owing to the fact that the positionalsensibility of the internal combustion engine has been eliminated by thepivotal suspension of the drive unit. As is well known, in order toenable satisfactory operation of an internal combustion engine, thelatter must be maintained in a fixed position relative to a verticalplane.

In a preferred embodiment of the assembly according to the invention,the drive unit is carried in spaced relation to the guide track and tothe drift maining equipment so as to be pivotable about a firsthorizontal axis extending transversely relative to the track, by beingsuspended from a framework which, at two locations relatively spacedalong the track, is movably supported from the track at one of saidlocations and is pivotally connected with the drift mining equipment,respectively, at the other location so as to be pivotable about a secondhorizontal axis extending transversely relative to the track. Owing tothis arrangement, the pivot axis of the drive unit can be fixed at asubstantially constant distance from the track, which distance is merelysufficient to allow for any required inclination or change ininclination of the-track without any risk of the drive unit impingingthe track. At the same time, owing to the pivotal connection between theframework and the drift mining equipment, a limited floating will beallowed as between the drive unit and the comparatively bulky driftmining equipment, so that the entire assembly composed of this equipmentand the drive unit can be bodily moved, for instance, along ahorizontally extending section of the track to and along a substantiallyvertically extending section thereof, without requiring for the driveunit at any time any substantially larger cross-sectional space withinthe raise than that required for the drift mining equipment, and withoutimpinging the latter.

Said framework, in addition, suitably carries a fuel reservoir forsupplying the internal combustion engine assembly.

According to a preferred embodiment of the inventive assembly, the fluidmotor unit is constituted by a hydraulic motor of the axial-piston type,and the fluid pumping means is a variable-throw axial-piston pump, inwhich case the drive unit, in addition, comprises a hydraulic-fluidreservoir.

The fluid motor assembly and the fluid motor pump,

- however, alternatively could be constituted by a pneumatic motor and apneumatic pump, respectively. The

.internal combustion engine assembly is, preferably, a

diesel engine.

The invention will now be described more in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a raise lift constructed accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view as seen in the direction of arrows IlIIin FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrammatical side views illustrating how the raiselift of FIG. 1 can assume different attitudes according to theinclination of the raise of drift.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 2 designates the side wall of a raise or driftbeing driven into the rock. Secured to the top or ceiling of the raiseis a track guide generally designated by 4. The track 4 is composed of aplurality of successive sections interconnected by quick-grip-connectors6. In the embodiment shown by way of example, each track section issecured to the rock wall by a sowel bracket 8, and each section, inaddition, is supported at its lower end by the top of the next-precedingmounted track section. Each track section is built up of a track elementproper, 10, in the form of a channel member provided with a toothed orpinned rack, and a set of pipe lines 12. The pipe lines 12 are adaptedto convey pressurized air for the drilling assembly, as well as waterfor the drift mining equipment moved along track 4, as will be furtherdescribed hereinafter.

The drift mining equipment, briefly, comprises an operating platform 14and a lift cage 16 which are mounted to a framework, as indicated at 18.The operating platform,l4- is pivotally mounted to the framework 18 in amanner not specifically illustrated and is adjustable into a horizontalposition independently of the inclination of the raise or drift by meansof an adjustment device 20 in the form of two telescopicallyinterconnected tubes, the upper tube, at its extreme end, beingpivotally connected to the platform 14 at 22, and the lower tube, at itsextreme end, being pivotally connected to the framework 18 at 24. Thelift cage 16 serves for carrying personnel to the working place withinthe raise and is provided in its top portion with a door, not shown, toenable the operators to climb to the platform 14, the cage having, inaddition, in its floor a door serving as an emergency exit.

The framework 18 is guided and supported on the track element by rollersets, not shown in detail, and is movable along the track by a machinerycomprising two worm gears 26 driving individual toothed wheels,respectively, which are in mesh with the pinned rack of track element10. The input element of each worm gear 26 is drivingly connected to adrive unit to be further described hereinafter. The machinery, in theembodiment illustrated by way of example, further comprises acentrifugal brake unit indicated at 28 and an automatic speed limiter orcapture device indicated at 30. Numeral 32 designates a synchronizingcoupling interposed between the two worm gears 26.

The arrangement so far described is a conventional raise lift with itsassociated, also conventional equipment. The raise lift is well known tothose skilled in the art and therefore need not be further describedhere, neither in its functional nor as to its structural features. Thus,for instance, it could correspond essentially to a raise lift of thetype ALIMAK STH-S.

The input element of the two worm gears 26 are driven in common by ahydraulic motor 34 of the axialpiston type, which, again, is mounted onthe framework 18 in a manner not illustrated in detail. Motor 34 hashydraulic fluid supplied to it from a diagrammatically illustrated driveunit 36 through supply lines omitted from the drawing for clarity. Driveunit 36 comprises a box-shaped casing containing a drive assemblyconsisting of a diesel engine, for instance of 39 HP, and a variableaxial-piston pump driven thereby. The axialpiston pump is adapted tofeed hydraulic fluid to the motor 34. Both the diesel engine and theaxial-piston motor may be of any commercially available design and,therefore, need not be further described here, either. The box-shapedcasing of drive unit 36 also contains a hydraulic-fluid reservoir with acapacity of 25 liters, for example, and a starter battery having acapacity of l 10 Ah.

As is well known, a diesel engine to operate satisfactory, should assumea substantially fixed attitude relative to the vertical. In order toensure this attitude independently of the inclination of track 4, thedrive unit 36 is suspended from and connected with the framework 18 in amanner to be described in detail hereinafter.

The suspension for the drive unit 36 comprises a frame consisting of twoparts rigidly connected with each other. The first one of these parts isa T-shaped frame member 37 having the free extreme end of the leg of theT pivotally connected to the framework 18 at 38, so as to be movableabout a horizontal axis extending at right angles to the track 4. Theleg of frame member 37 at its end remote from suspension point 38 isrigidly interconnected with a second frame member 39. Frame member 39consists of a pair of spaced parallel bars 39a and 39b extending atright angles to, and on either sides of the track 4 and carrying aplurality of guide and supporting rollers 40 adapted to run on the flatsurface of the track element 10 in the manner indicated in FIGS. 1 and2. Welded to the extreme ends of the two legs of the T-shaped framemember 37 in the manner shown are two short carrier or suspension arms42, respectively. The suspension arms 42 carry between them thebox-shaped casing of the drive unit 36, so that the latter is pivotallysuspended about a horizontal axis 44 extending at right angles to thetrack.

The T-shaped frame member 37 may suitably be built up of hollow beammembers so as to form a fuel reservoir for the diesel engine. The supplyconduit from this reservoir is omitted from the drawing for clarity.

The pivotal suspension of the drive unit 36 as illustrated and describedhereinbefore enables this unit always to occupy one and the sameposition or attitude relative to the vertical, independently of theinclination of track 4 and without impinging track 4, frame portions 37,39 or lift cage 16 at any time. Furthermore, the suspension is sodevised, that the drive unit 36 will at worst take up merely a slightlylarger space within the cross sectional area of the raise than theremainder of the drift mining equipment, including the platform 14 andlift cage 16.

The condition just stated will also be seen from the diagrammatic FIGS.3 and 4. FIG. 3 illustrates the positional relationship of the driftmining equipment and drive unit 36 where the track 4 extendshorizontally, whereas FIG. 4 illustrates the drift mining equipment andthe drive unit 36 in transferring from a substantially horizontal orslightly upwardly inclined portion of track 4 to a vertically extendingtrack portion which is ascending into a vertical raise.

A raise lift equipment constructed in accordance with the presentinvention will be entirely independent of any electrical lines extendingbackwards through the raise, as opposed to electrically powered raiselifts, and of any pressurized-air conduits, as opposed topneumatic-motor driven raise lifts. This will enable very long raises,of lengths up to 1,000 meters or more, to be driven rapidly andeconomically.

The invention is not restricted to the embodiment illustrated but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims. Thus it is possible,for instance, instead of a hydraulic motor to use, in a conventionalmanner, pneumatic motors for driving the worm gears 26, respectively, inwhich case the internal combustion engine contained in the drive unit 36will drive a pneumatic pump for supplying pressurized air to saidmotors. The internal combustion engine need not necessarily be a dieselengine, but may instead be a gasoline engine.

I claim:

1. Drift mining equipment for driving raises and like drifts in rock,comprising a. track means composed of a plurality of interconnected butseparately demountable track sections;

b. means for securing said track sections to the wall of a raise; 0.frame means carrying platfonn means;

. d. guide and support means for suspending said frame means forreciprocating movement on and along said track means, said guide andsupport means further carrying fluid motor means for driving said framemeans along said track means;

e. a drive assembly including internal combustion engine means, a fluidpumping means operated by said engine, and conduit means for directingdrive fluid from said fluid pumping means to said fluid motor means, and

f. means for suspending said drive assembly from said guide and supportmeans so that the drive assembly is freely pivotable about asubstantially horizontal axis extending transversely of said trackmeans;

whereby said internal combustion engine means will always be able totake a position in which it will function regardless of the inclinationof the raise.

2. Drift mining equipment according to claim 1 wherein the means forsuspending said drive assembly is a framework which has one section thatis movably supported from the track means and a second spaced apartsection that is pivotably connected to said guide Y ternal combustionengine means is a diesel engine.

1. Drift mining equipment for driving raises and like drifts in rock,comprising a. track means composed of a plurality of interconnected butseparately demountable track sections; b. means for securing said tracksections to the wall of a raise; c. frame means carrying platform means;d. guide and support means for suspending said frame means forreciprocating movement on and along said track means, said guide andsupport means further carrying fluid motor means for driving said framemeans along said track means; e. a drive assembly including internalcombustion engine means, a fluid pumping means operated by said engine,and conduit means for directing drive fluid from said fluid pumpingmeans to said fluid motor means, and f. means for suspending said driveassembly from said guide and support means so that the drive assembly isfreely pivotable about a substantially horizontal axis extendingtransversely of said track means; whereby said internal combustionengine means will always be able to take a position in which it willfunction regardless of the inclination of the raise.
 2. Drift miningequipment according to claim 1 wherein the means for suspending saiddrive assembly is a framework which has one section that is movablysupported from the track means and a second spaced apart section that ispivotably connected to said guide and support means about a horizontalaxis extending transversely to the track means.
 3. Drift miningequipment according to claim 1 wherein said fluid motor means consistsof a hydraulic motor of the axis-piston type, the fluid pump means is avariable axial-piston pump and the drive assembly includes ahydraulic-fluid reservoir.
 4. Drift mining equipment according to claim1 wherein said fluid motor means and said fluid pump means are apneumatic motor and a pneumatic pump, respectively.
 5. Drift miningaccording to claim 1 wherein said internal combustion engine means is adiesel engine.